My van was now bustling with activity, and I could see that another officer had arrived and was with Palladino, bent over near where the scuffle had taken place, probably searching for non-existent evidence. I needed to shake myself out of this fog I seemed to be in, but it was hard to think as Rhodes opened his truck door, waiting for me to get in.
"I have something to tell you. About the flowers." Clearing my throat nervously, I wondered what the best approach was. I definitely had messed up. It hadn’t ever occurred to me that the person sending them was crazy or dangerous, but I’d probably made things worse. Hell, I listened to Hattie’s podcasts before. People were wild. I just didn’t think they would ever direct that at me. “I kept them.” His face froze. “You know it wasn’t the flowers’ fault that they were from a stranger or anything. I couldn’t just throw them away.” Wade waited patiently, but I could already see that Rhodes was going to have an aneurysm. “And maybe I put them in the window as part of the display.” I winced.
“You put them in the window?” Rhodes repeated, incredulity clear in his tone. “Jesus.” He took a breath, but I could see his jaw tick. “Okay.”
“And,” I bit down on my lip. “I posted something on social media with the last bouquet in it. I just wanted to not make a thing about it.”
Rhodes was quiet for a moment, Wade standing still beside him, watching as if he was waiting for him to explode, holding his breath. Finally, Rhodes exhaled, “Okay, we can work withthis. I’ll have my guys monitor that post, and maybe we’ll get something on it. This could be a good thing.” He shook his head like he was coming up from the water and turned those stormy eyes on me, and I wished he hadn’t because I still felt like an idiot.
“We’ll figure this out,” Wade stepped forward and held me tightly for a long moment, wrapping me completely in his arms, and setting his jaw on the top of my head. “I promise, okay? It’ll be fine.” I nodded against his chest because he truly meant it. My family had always looked after me. “I’m going to finish looking over things here and see if I can find anything, and then I’ll head over.”
“Sounds good.” Rhodes was already crowding me into the truck as my brother slapped him on the back in a goodbye. Maybe I should be annoyed, but instead I was just grateful that I didn’t have to worry about it.
“What about my van?” I asked when he’d gotten back into the truck and started it up. “Maybe I should just follow you?”
“You’re not driving. That’s not even a conversation that we’re going to have.”
I frowned at his bossy attitude. He reached out and tucked the loose end of my braid back over my shoulder, and I felt my skin prickle under his attention as his calloused hand grazed along the skin of my neck before he let his hand drop.
“You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do, Mr. Collins,” I huffed.
“Mr. Collins? I could get used to that.” He slanted a heated look over at me, but his muscles were all bunched as we drove away from the gas station and my brother.
A small part of me wondered whether I should have stayed with Wade, but I understood Rhodes’s high-handedness. It was something that would usually make me walk out the door, but right now it was just what I needed. He looked a little stressed. “You look tense. Are you okay?”
He took the corner a little too fast. “Sorry.” Then he shot me an incredulous look. “Tense? You think I’m tense?”
“Yeah.” Opting for a teasing tone to try to lighten the mood and the anxiety that was still riding through me like an electric wire, I poked his shoulder. “Tense, you know? Relax. It’s over now.” Realizing I was sounding like I was coming on to him, I put my hand back down in my lap.
Rhodes
“There are plenty of ways I can think of to relax.” The words rumbled out, low and gravelly, as the truck ate up the miles toward home. Her hand had just grazed me, light as a butterfly's wing, and it stirred something way down deep—a pull I couldn't shake. It took every ounce of willpower not to slam on the brakes right there and lose myself completely in her. But this thing between us? It wasn’t just lust.
“I can think of some, too.” A soft pink bloomed across her cheeks, and she lifted her chin, meeting my gaze with that quiet fire. “Maybe I need some relaxation.”
Sage was a rare, beautiful blend of innocence and wit. She was funny. Her sass drew me in, but this attempt at … I didn’t even know if I could call it seduction. Well, it undid me. The first time I’d seen and heard her with her siblings, I’d been completely drawn in. She was a light in the world, and I’d wanted her in mine. I’d paid my dues for years, and it was time to move past that shit. Was it wrong to want to do it with her?
“Is that a fact?” I slanted a look at her and went a little faster.
Pulling up to the gate, frustration gnawed at me—the security perimeter still wasn't operational. I needed to fix that immediately. This place moved at a slower pace, and even though East had full crews out here, they weren’t exactly hurrying. It hadn’t really bugged me before, but now? Well, things were urgent, and it made me realize that it wasn’t just a matter of a yard … I needed to know people couldn’t get in. Having the fence unsecured was unacceptable. My team would rip into me if they knew it was like this, and they’d be justified. At least the house system was active, providing a small barrier between us and any lingering threats.
She was still flushed when I helped her from the truck, my hand lingering on hers as I unlocked the door and punched in the code. School wouldn't let out for another hour, but Wade and the crew could descend any minute, like a storm I wasn't ready for.
I took her hand, leading her upstairs. “I’ve always wanted to see inside,” she murmured, her voice just a soft echo in the quiet house. I heard her, but my focus was on the warmth of her palm in mine, the way she didn’t say anything when I kept her moving instead of stopping for a tour.
We had security footage to review, and I needed to phone the team, but there was no stopping me until I drew her into my office and onto my lap. She straddled me naturally, as if we'd done this a thousand times.
“You’re going to help me relax, right?” she asked when she caught my hesitation.
“That’s right. I’m selfless like that.” It felt natural to capture her mouth in a kiss. Was I being a maniac? Sure, but that rage I’d felt earlier wouldn’t be satisfied until she was mine.
She tasted like strawberries and the kind of dreams I'd stopped believing in. My fingers wove into her braid, gentling the kiss even as her body pushed even tighter against mine, pressing the juncture of her thighs against my dick.
“These overalls... they drive me crazy. All these little buckles you have,” I whispered against her lips, sliding one free with careful fingers, letting the strap fall from her shoulder. Her eyes darkened with a mix of interest and desire as I eased the other loose and lifted her shirt off. My breath caught at the sight of her. She was a vision.
She offered a small, secret smile, her voice teasing. “A girl likes to feel pretty, Mr. Collins. Were you thinking I was a white-cotton-bra kind of girl? Sorry to disappoint.”
As if anything about her would be in that classification. Beneath the practical layers, she wore a sheer green lace bra, embroidered with delicate lilies—like a hidden garden blooming just for me. I'd imagined Sage naked plenty of times, what her tits might be like, or if her nipples would be pale like shells or dark like the inside of a rose. But I’d never thought she’d have something like this hiding under her work clothes. This wasn’t cheap lingerie or even the kind you got at the mall. This was La Perla or some boutique shit.
